Fang's thoughts
by Organna
Summary: So, we've read what Max thinks about this story so far, but have you ever wondered what goes on in the mind of our dark Avian american? Well, here is what I think he's thinking...there is slight, onesided maxfang...but very slight! on hiatus
1. Brain Attacks

**Author's Note: **Howdy y'all! Here I am with my very first Maximum Ride fic! ...and i don't think that it's really gonna be much of a tragedy...more along the lines of Fang's thoughts throughout the story...i'm not really sure how long it'll b...but i love the books! ...oh, and i started this at max's first brain attack...there really wasn't much to go on before that. And plus...i think that the story really starts right there.

--grabs Fang from closet--

**Lovie:** You know you want to...

**Fang:** ...no...

**Lovie: **but you owe me!

**Fang: **for what?

**Lovie: **why, saving you from those awful whitecoats back there!

**Fang:** ...back where?

**Lovie: --**sighs-- never mind, _I'll _read it! --Ahem-- Loviegurlie (me) does not own any of the Maximum Ride characters. James Patterson does. Nor does she even really own what's going on...again, that's James Patterson's. If I did...well, the books wouldn't have been as good, but man, there'd be pairings out that wah-zoo! But alas, the only things I do own are my razor, my books (all 100+ of them!) and Fang's thoughts in this story (you know, the parts that you don't recognize!)

**Fang:** ...? save me...I beg of you.

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Random Quote #1:

If men can control the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? I mean, how good is it that they start the day by tying little nooses around their necks?

-Linda Ellerbee

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**Chapter one: The Brain Attacks**

Fang's POV: (will be entire story! ...bare with me, i'm a girl writing in the form of a boy...i have no idea wtf runs thru the mind of a fourteen year old bird-boy.)

"_Max!"_ Nudge yelled, causing me to look back sharply, and what I saw terrified me. My jaw dropped as Max plummeted, her head in her hands. Without thinking, I dove after her, catching her with minor difficulties-Ididn'twant tohurt her wings. She groaned, and I think that her grip on her head tightened as tears streamed freely down her cheeks. I continued to fly, worried about Max but not wanting to land quite yet and have to answer the flocks many questions that I had no answers for. Thoughts flew around my head. I mean, what if something was wrong with her DNA? What if it were unraveling? How much longer for the rest of us? I'm two months younger than she is...did that mean that, in a couple of months that I'd be facing the same fate? What about six months from now? What would happen to the flock? I was _really _hoping that Max didn't notice the pounding of my heart-what would we do without Max? ...what would _I _do?

I banished these thoughts as I noticed Max moving a bit more. She looked up at me, her eyes red, and I held back a sigh of relief. She was okay...well, for now anyway.

"Man, you weigh a freaking _ton,_" I said, trying to ease myself into relaxing some. "What have you been eating, _rocks?_"

"Why, is your head missing some?" she croaked, and I only almost managed a weak smile. God, Max had scared me. Nudge flew over, and asked how she was okay.

"Uh-huh," she seemed to have barely managed to say that, but I kept my mouth shut. "Find a place to land. Please." Max said, her voice steadier, but I knew she wasn't herself completely. She'd said '_please._'

That night, after the flock had laid down to sleep, I sat up with Max, desperately wanting to know if she knew what had happened earlier...besides falling out of the sky and almost becoming a Max-pancake. But, instead, I began talking about our parents-or her lack of and my sad excuse of a mother. Max seemed better-she wasn't in a ball, moaning anymore. I don't remember much of our conversation, but I do remember getting upset over something dealing with my mother.

I laid down by Gazzy, but remained awake for awhile, thinking of Max's head pain. _Was_ it her DNA unraveling? Were we all facing the same fate? How long did we have before we expired? I shook those thoughts from my head, and glanced at the flock for paranoia's sake. Max was sound asleep with an arm around Angel and a foot near Nudge. This was one of the very few times that I had ever seen Max so relaxed...and you know what? It was rather nice. I laid back down and drifted off to sleep, my back against Gazzy's and my head near Iggy's.

I was awoken the next morning by Max's boot connecting with my shin and the sound of popcorn popping over an open fire. Max was back to her normal self (thank God) and was telling us of what she planned on doing. We were off to New York City-a big city. Absolutely wonderful. But, I kept my mouth shut and we were off twenty minutes later. I was off the ground first, followed by Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and then Angel. I hovered a little bit, letting Nudge and Iggy take the lead while I kept my eye on Max. Her take off was fine, and I turned to head off. When Max hit the ten-foot marker, she clutched her head, and fell like a rock. She hit the ground with a resounding thud, and I was next to her in a matter of seconds, terrified that this could be the end of my best friend.

"Max?" I brushed my fingers across her shoulder and applauded myself because I didn't sound as scared and shaken as I felt. "Is it like before?"

Max didn't move, but the tears rolled down her cheeks and she made some sort of high pitched noise of pain. God, I felt so helpless, watching her lay in a crying ball of pain. I was vaguely aware of the rest of the flock nearby, watching her and me. Almost as if they weremaking sure thatI wouldn't just leave her and take over. Slowly, Max released her head...then crawled to the bushes and threw up before crumpling to the ground again, this time exhausted. All I wanted to do was hold her tightly, and reassure myself that Max was okay...for now. But that would be way too un-Fang-ish, and probably scare them even more. (and by them, I mean the flock)

A little while later (or was it a long while? I don't remember) Max finally opened her eyes to find us staring at her, all very concerned.

"Max, what is _wrong_ with you?" Angel asked, sounding terrified.

"Think you should see a doctor?" I asked her, trying to sound calm and rational, my eyes scrutinizing her as I made sure that she was physically fine, as she blinked.

"Oh, yes, _that's _a good idea," she replied, sounding drained. "we need to let _more_ people in authority know about us."

"Look," I started to say, but Max cut me off.

"I'm okay now." she said, but I knew she was lying. Her eyes proved it. "Maybe it's a stomach bug or something." Max said, and I bit back a remark. What in the world has she eaten that the rest of us haven't? ...and when did her stomach affect her head?

"Let's just go to New York." she continued, but I watched her more carefully this time as I made her take off before me. These crazy head pains of hers were starting to scare me, and I don't scare that easily...except when it came to the School and Max's safety. Angel suddenly looked back at me with a strange expression on her face, but I kept my eyes on Max as she flew off ahead of me. Nudge began to talk to our 'leader' about her parents, and I relaxed just a little bit as another attack didn't seem evident quite yet.

Everything seemed fine for a little while after that-if being chased by eight Erasers is considered 'fine.' But Max had no massive head pains for an entire day. Well, she was nauseous at the zoo, and there was that one time when she stopped dead on the street; I thought that I was going to have to carry her off to the nearest alley...but it was only cookies. I couldn't stop the sigh of relief that escaped my lips as she disappeared into the shop with Angel in tow. The library was okay too. No attacks, no strange people; all in all, kinda nice. Except we didn't find anything on our Institute. I kept as close to Max as possible without freaking her out...or letting her know what I was doing. But being as close to Max as I was, was...actually kinda nice. Not that anybody would ever hear me say that out loud. After our fruitless search at the library, then our quick escape, we wound up in the subway, which made me tense, nervous, and kind of twitchy. But Max and Iggy were too, so I didn't feel _as _paranoid. Especially after waiting for ten minutes with no train. Eventually, Iggy led us to an underground city of the homeless, the perfect spot for six homeless kids. We were led to an empty stretch of ledge after Nudge willingly gave up her knish, and everyone-save Max and myself-went straight to sleep. Max and I leaned up against the wall, our knees drawn to our chests, and she began to rub her temples. I couldn't help but start to worry about her again. _Gah!_ I hated worrying like this...it was so...not me.

"You okay?" I asked her softly.

"Yeah," Max muttered. "I'll be better tomorrow."

"Go to sleep," I said, wanting her to get as much sleep as possible...wanting her to get better sooner. "I'll take first watch." I offered, and she smiled at me gratefully. She then lay down and fell asleep at once. I leaned back on the wall, keeping my eyes on both the flock and those nearby. Max was laying still, her breathing even. The people around us ignored the flock entirely. They had their own problems, so why worry about a bunch of ragged looking, tall kids? An hour or so later, Max's breathing changed from it's deep, gentle, methodic rhythm of sleep to sharp hisses of pain as she shot up into a sitting position-her head tight in her hands. I crept up by her side, worried for her safety again.

"Max?" I asked in a low voice, not wanting to wake the rest of the flock. She didn't answer, and I put a hand on her shoulder, wishing I could take her pain away-that it was me with this horrid head pain instead of her. She whimpered as her jaw clenched, and I saw some blood trickle down her chin...meaning she'd bitten her lip, cheek, or tounge. I gripped her shoulder tighter as a strange kid in army fatigues came over to us.

"Who's screwing with my Mac?" the guy demanded angrily. I glanced at the guy, and back at Max, who was slowly starting to relax some.

"Who are you? What are you doing? You've crashed my whole system, worthless dipstick!" the kid yelled at us again. I was surprised that Iggy hadn't so much as budged.

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I tried to keep myself from grabbing Max and flying the heck out of there. After the flock had left, of course.

"My system crashed. I've tracked the interference, and it's coming from _you._ So I'm tellin' you to knock it off-or else!" the kid fumed. I almost laughed at the 'or else' part...andI probably would have had I not been so worried about Max. She took in a deep, shaky sounding breath, and the guy with the Mac looked at her. "And what's wrong with _her_? She trippin'?"

"She's fine." I snapped, wanting this guy to go away soI could be absolutely sure that she was fine, and then maybe get some sleep. "We don't know anything about your computer. If you're not brain-dead, you'll get out of here."

"I'm not going nowhere till you quit messing with my Mac. Why don't you get your girlfriend to a hospital?" he asked flatly. _Girlfriend!_ He thought that Max was my...? But before I could reply to that, Max sat up and squinted in the direction of the Mac kid.

"Who the hell are _you_?" she asked, sounding weak.

"None of your beeswax!" the kid shot back. "Just quit screwing up my motherboard." Max looked at him confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"This!" the kid turned his machine around so that we could see the screen, and Max gasped-something I had very rarely ever heard from her.

"Who _are_ you?" she asked again, still sounding shaky. I was examining the things on the screen as he answered. They were quite interesting actually.

"The kid who's gonna kick your butt if you don't quit messing with my system!"

I almost laughed again. I'd _love _to see him try to kick Max's butt...in her present condition too. Then, the computer screen went blank, leaving a dark green screen...and the words _'Hello Max'_ came up. Now, I'm a fourteen year old bird kid, who spent the first ten years of his life in a cage, being experimented upon, the last four years in a cabin in the mountains, and always with five other bird kids. I am constantly chased by half-wolf-half-people things...and a computer saying hello to my Max _**creeped me out**_. My head whipped around towards Max so fast, I swear it popped three or four times. Whoever sent this message was watching us right now...and that could be _very _bad. She looked at me, I automatically focused my eyes on hers, and we turned back to the computer screen at the same time. More words replaced the two that that were there first. _'Welcome to New York.'_

"Can you hear that?" Max whispered to me. "_Did _you hear it?"

"Hear what?" I asked, confused.

"That voice?" she said. Then, she rubbed her temples and looked at the Mac again.

"What's the deal?" the kid asked, sounding like he couldn't believe what was going on. Hell, _I _couldn't believe what was going on! "Who's Max? How are you doing this?"

"We're not doing anything." I replied. I saw Max wince out of the corner of my eye, and became slightly worried again...the part that had gone away came flying right back. Was it another attack already? But she continued to rub her temples and stared at the screen as four words popped up. She looked my way, and I gave a slight nod. The name of our Institute: The Institute for Higher Living.

The kid returned to his machine, muttering stuff and glancing at us apprehensively. I'm pretty sure that the drying blood on Max's chin was freaking him out. Which was good in my book...and I know, I have a pretty twisted book. He started to say some stuff, but I only caught the last part of it, having been lost in my thoughts...deep thoughts too.

"We don't have any gear. Spooky, isn't it?"

"You guys on the run? You in trouble?"

"Why would you think that?" ._..Note to self, pat self on back for sounding calm even though you want to shove him in a dark hole..._

"...because you're a bunch of _kids _sleeping in a _subway tunnel. _Kinda clues me in, you know?" he replied. And wouldn't you know it, I didn't have a reply to that.

"What about you?" Max asked, sounding more and more like her normal self. That one must've been pretty bad if she had bitten herself. _How much longer until she...NO! _I scolded myself for even thinking of a portion of that question. No way was I going to ask that, either in my mind or out loud. For some odd reason, I just couldn't seem to come to terms with the fact that Max might be...damn...I can't even write it down now. But I wanted to know how much time we had. I mean, the Erasers lasted six or seven years, and we had easily doubled that lifespan. So was this it? Were we finally finding our limit on life? A whole fourteen, crappy years?

With these thoughts still bouncing around in my brain, I refocused on the Mac-kid, who was talking about 'spun out.' ...whatever that meant.

"What's spun out?" I asked, faking curiosity to make them think that I had actually been paying attention...which I hadn't been, but nobody needed to know that then. And then my thoughts shot off again...this time in the direction of Max. Well, more along the lines of what Max had asked me not too long ago. About hearing a voice...maybe it had to do with the computer...? Or the pain? I wanted to get my questions answered, but I knew that the only way would be to go back to the School and talk to Jeb. Yeah...like I'd return there willingly. Maybe after they pried my cold and lifeless corpse from the bottom of the ocean...and only _maybe_ then.

"So, what's up with your computer?" I asked, curiously. Hey, asking this guy was worth a shot, right? The kid shrugged. "It's my bread and butter. I can hack into anything. Sometimes people pay me. I do jobs when I need money." ...and then he snapped his jaw shut. "Why? _Who want to know?_"

"Chill out, dude." I said with a frown. I couldn't lose him to his schizo ways yet! I didn't have my answers! "We're just having a chat."

The kid backed up, his eyes roving the place around us, and he was looking rather angry. "Who sent you? Who are you? You just leave me alone! You just stay away!" he yelled. I gave him the 'calm down' gesture that I usually give to Max when she's too stressed, but he took off running...and he left me with just as many questions as before. Crazy schizo.

"It's always refreshing to meet someone crazier than us." Max said, sounding more like herself than she had in two days...which relieved me. "We seem so normal afterward." she said with a grin.

"_We_?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Wha's up?" Iggy asked, sleepily. _Great, the guy sleeps through everything important, and wakes up now._ _Isn't he supposed to be the one with the best hearing out of the entire flock...?_ Yeah, he kind of scares me sometimes too. But, Max and I told Iggy everything and we vowed not to tell the younger ones...yet. Well, okay, so 'vowed' is a strong word here...maybe 'decided.' Yeah, that one works better. Max said something about a voice in her head. I asked if she thought it had anything to do with the School or Institute...but she said something about maybe being born with it. I think she was being sarcastic...but you know, she is sarcastic so often, it's hard to know when she's being serious or being sarcastic. You just never seem to know with that girl.

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**A/N: **So...there's chapter one! I have at least up through two or three written out...but I didn't separate them, so I end when I want to end. ...uhm, is that a go me? Or is it a throw-rotten-veggies-at-the-author sorta thing? Meh...dunno. Now excuse me as I go and find out where Fang has flown off to. --grabs butterfly net and dresses in khaki jungle outfit-- FANG! COME BACK TO MEEEEE! 

Please review, cuz reviews make me happy! --holds out a dish that says 'reviews'...you see it is empty and the girl is sad...-- u don't wanna make me sad, do you? Just think, in the short amount of time it will take to tell me what you think, you would have made my day, and completely ignored this section of my author's note!


	2. Erasers and stuff

**Author's note:** Yay for chapter two! I feel so special, and I wish to thank my five reviewers: **Myrah **(Thanx for the info...sry for the biff there...)

**EdwardAddict **(YES PLEASE!)

**coolbeanie **(Thanx soooo much!)

**Anony ( ) **(yeah...ur prolly right about that...)

**Da Jitter Bug **(thanx for the support!)

And i also want to thank the fifty-five readers I got...even tho fifty of you guys didn't review...i won't hold it against you right now. ONWARD HO!

...oh, my disclaimer, yeah...

--snags Iggy from closet--

**Iggy: **wait...what am i doing here? Where am i? Where's max?

**Lovie:** ...you are here. You are here because i want you to be...max is...indisposed as of right now. But all you have to do is say what i told you, and you can go back to your universe!

**Iggy:** ...but why do i have to say that?

**Lovie:** --smacks head off wall repeatedly-- ur as difficult as Fang sometimes, you know that!

**Iggy: **--grins and says nothing--

**Lovie: **fine, i'll say it, _again_! Loviegurlie (which is me) does not own any of the characters listed here, nor does she own the plot or storyline. She does own the parts of the storyline that you do not recognize. (which i call 'Fang's thoughts)

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Random Quote #2:

Sometimes I get the urge to run around naked. Then I drink some Windex. It keeps me from streaking.

-anonymous

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**Chapter 2: Erasers and stuff**

The next day we walked up and down streets, and Max hit a dead end with the Institute of Higher Living.

"What the he-eck are we supposed to do now?" she asked me. I honestly had no idea...so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Peanut?" ...could I have been anymore retarded? Anyway, we passed some television store not long later, and I pointed them out. "Smile, you're on _Candid Camera._" I said. We all turned our heads away out of acute paranoia. I noticed Max wince and turn to the TVs. We followed suit, and my eyes widened. _'Good morning, Max' _was on every single screen.

"Jeez," I breathed as I stopped dead in my tracks, unable to believe what I was seeing. This caused Iggy to run right into my back, and he asked what was going on while Gazzy asked Max if it was saying 'Good morning' to her. Well...there weren't many other people around us, and no others were stopped, so I could only wonder who it was talking to...sarcasm again. Suddenly, Max yelled out randomly.

"I don't want to have fun! I want some answers!" ...I'm pretty sure that people several blocks away heard that yell. Everyone just kind of stared at her...in shock and as if she were crazy.

"Max, are you okay?" Nudge asked. Max nodded, then said that we should get on the Madison Avenue bus.

"Why?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"The Voice," she mouthed, and I nodded. Great...we were following directions from something that only Max can hear, and we have no idea where it's going to take us. Lovely.

"But Max," I whispered, unable to keep myself from voicing my thoughts aloud. "What if this is all a trap?" Millions of scenarios were running through my brain, and all of them bad. But hey, she wasn't in a ball crying anymore; which was most definitely a plus.

"I don't know!" she said. "But maybe we should do what it says for awhile-to see." And man, the only thing I could think was _'...to see what? If it'll take us all back to the School?'_

"Do what _what _says?" the Gasman demanded to know. Max had started walking toward the corner and I heard myself blurt.

"Max has bee hearing a voice, inside her. We don't know what it is." So much for not worrying the others. Well, we rode the bus to a toy store...which was freaking amazing. Angel got some woman to buy her this fifty dollar bear...with her mind...which is way bad. Not too much longer after that, we were back wandering the streets again. Max suddenly said that we were surrounded-which got me doing a 360 out of paranoia, searching for Erasers and escape routes. She then continued to talk to herself, and I couldn't help but stare at her. I mean, it's kind of weird when someone you've grown up with suddenly starts talking to herself...and then demanding answers-all thanks to some voice from some chip...I think. Gazzy asked her if she was alright-which I must say, is the million dollar question when it comes to Max's well being.

"..._info._ This could be what we've always wanted to know." she was saying.

"'Cause we might find our parents?" Iggy half asked.

"Yes," she said. "But now we're here, and really weird things are happening, and I'm not sure-" she stopped, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which meant only one thing; Erasers.

"_Hello kids!"_ two snarled as they jumped out of the doorway of a building. I vaguely heard Angel scream as Max spun the six-year-old and herself around before sprinting away, Iggy and me on her heels with Gazzy and Nudge on either side of us. We were darting around people and vendors (which is _a lot_ harder than it looks like) when Max yelled for us to cross the street. We ran right in front of two taxi's...who honked angrily at us...and I heard a loud 'thunk' followed by a strangled yell. Risking a glance back, I swallowed a chuckle.

"Bicycle messenger took an Eraser out!" I shouted, and I swear I heard Max giggle. But then, out of nowhere, the other Eraser ripped Max out of Angel's grasp by her hair. The six-year-old screamed bloody murder as Max was swung over the Eraser's shoulder without so much as a pause.

I swear Max is rubbing off on me, because I made one of Max's snap decisions and ran off behind them. Angel continued to scream as I chased Max and the Eraser-whom she pummeled mercilessly. But there was _no way in hell_ that I'd let _anyone_ take my Max away from me...and the flock. The Eraser sped up, and Max called my name as I struggled to go faster.

"_Fang!" _she screamed, and I tried so hard to go faster, but as I stated before, it's really hard to run down the sidewalks of New York City because of all the people and the vendors. The Eraser suddenly fell, and I used that to my advantage as much as possible. As soon as I reached Max, I grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her up, trying to leave this guy as far behind as possible.

"Wait!" she said. "Fang-I think he's dead." I looked from the girl next to me down to the Eraser and carefully nudged him with my boot-half terrified that he'd jump up and bite me...or worse, grab Max again. The thing didn't move...or blink...or anything. I crouched down beside it, and felt for a pulse; _very_ aware that I still held Max's hand tightly in my own. Nobody was snatching her from me like they did from Angel.

"You're right," I said as I stood...aware that the adrenaline rush I had felt was wearing off. "He's dead. What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. I was wailing on him, but it didn't do squat. Then he just went down like a ton of bricks."

It was then that the flock came tearing up to us, all wide eyed and white faced...Iggy included. Angel launched herself at Max, crying hard. Max could only hold and reassure the poor girl that she was fine. I flipped the collar back as a way to hide my emotions. That had been so freaking close. If there had been a car anywhere...but there was no need to worry myself with what didn't happen. So instead, I studied what was tattooed on the guy's neck. _11-00-07_. And it was then that the cops decided to show up...sirens blaring and everything. We slowly edged away from the Eraser; making ourselves invisible in the growing crowd.

"Crazy drug addict!" I called out, and we walked away. Max put Angel down, but held the girl's hand as tightly as I had been holding our 'leader's' hand not too long before. I kept my eyes peeled for anymore Erasers, terrified that they might try and pull the same stunt twice. (But I was sticking a little closer to Max than before. No way were they gonna try and snag her again!) Very slowly my heart rate dropped back to normal as the wolf-people refused to make themselves known around us. "So he was five years old." I said quietly, letting myself ease up just a little bit...but I was still alert and on the look out for any model-type people. Max nodded in agreement.

"Made in November, year 2000, number seven of a batch. They're not lasting too long, are they?" she said. _'Thank goodness for that!' _I thought. Max stopped suddenly, staring at a taxi and then glancing down at the ground. She picked something up from between the bars of a grate, tugged on my sleeve, and showed it to me. It was a card, much like the one we had snagged from that jerk in California two lifetimes ago, except it had her _full name_ on it. Maximum Ride. I tried to keep my face blank, but my eyes bugged some.

"I can use it if I can figure out the password." she said. I could only nod dumbly.

"Okay." Glad that I'm not like Nudge, otherwise, just that one word would have sent off alarm bells in Max's head saying that I wasn't completely sure that this card was a good thing. But she pocketed it, and we entered Central Park and climbed up a particularly large tree. Max began to ask me about her voice...but lets face it. It's her voice, how would I know anything about something only she can hear? Yet being the oh so nice bird kid that I am, I at least gave her my opinion...which doesn't always amount to much.

In the morning, we were awoken my some _very _annoying people. "It is unlawful to climb trees in Central Park." the voice boomed. I cursed the cops mentally and wondered why they didn't have anything better to do than to look up trees in search of people. My eyes met with Max's and I know that she was trying not to roll her eyes or launch any type of insult in their general direction...which would have been rather satisfying at the moment. We climbed down like _'normal'_ people, and I automatically began scoping out escape routes for when Max told us to run. I remember the cops saying something about calling our parents, but you know...that would go over like a lead balloon. As soon as Max shouted, I bolted, but slowed up when I heard Angel cry out for her bear. Max grabbed the poor girl by the wrist, and eventually carried her to where I was, then tossed our six-year-old to me when she got close enough. I caught Angel with ease, and took off with her crying for the bear over my shoulder...right in my ear. I heard Max say that she'd buy a new bear, but Angel wouldn't hear it; and cried into my shoulder-arms tight around my neck-as we put more and more of a distance between us and her bear. I had to put her down eventually-have you ever tried to run with a six year old cutting off your oxygen supply? It's not easy, let me tell you. We were sprinting down the streets, desperately looking for some escape of any kind...except for flying. That would be bad

"Inside a store?" I asked as I slowed my pace so I matched Max's. "Then through the back exit?" Max seemed to ponder this for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, maybe so. Let's turn east on Fifty-first." she said, and we made the necessary adjustments to head in that direction. It wasn't long before I realized that this was a one-way, meaning we had lost the cops...for the time being. I heard Nudge ask the all important 'what now' question, and Max skidded to a halt outside a large gray building. A church. Max seemed a little apprehensive as to entering, but not me.

"Sanctuary." I whispered, hoping that she'd hear me. I think she did, because we entered. Max led us up some so that we were away from the large tour groups, and then Angel took us to the pews to pray...or something like that. We all copied what everyone else was doing in the pews; meaning we kneeled, bent our heads, clasped our hands, and closed our eyes. I listened to everyone pray...and heard them as they asked for parents, bears, being strong for and like Max, kicked the Eraser's butts, sight (Iggy) and safety. I know what you're wondering. You want to know what I prayed for. Well, I don't feel like going into detail, but I'll give you the basics. Mainly it was about the flock's safety...killing Jeb...Max...and even for my teenage mother. (which continues to surprise me to no end...I haven't the slightest idea as to why that popped into my head.) When we finally opened our eyes, I saw Max turn to me, a question on her mind.

"Should we-" she stopped, winced, and shut her eyes tightly. _'Not now...please not now...there could be Erasers anywhere...please not a head pain now...'_ ran through my mind over and over as I watched Max, full of worry and apprehension. We didn't need another big scene on our hands right now. That would be bad. But, lucky for us, one didn't come. Max opened her eyes slowly, and kept staring right at me.

"Can you walk?" I asked, not wanting anyone to ask why I was carrying a girl down the streets of New York. A scene that I would much rather avoid if at all possible. She nodded, and we went outside.

"I say thirty-first street, in my head. And a bunch of numbers." she said as she shaded her eyes with a hand.

"Which means..." Iggy asked cautiously.

"I don't know. Maybe the Institute is on thirty-first street?" ...more of a question than a statement.

"That would be nice. East or West?" I asked, not wanting to walk all of thirty-first street. That's a long walk.

"I don't know."

"Did you see anything else?" I asked patiently. No way did I want Max to storm of in a huff because I couldn't keep my cool, then get snagged by an Eraser and shipped off to the School. I would never be able to forgive myself if that ever happened.

"Well, a bunch of numbers, and a tall, kind of greenish building." Max replied. Nudge suggested we walk all the way down thirty-first street, something I wasn't too keen on doing, but it was our only way of finding this building. I was nervous, twitchy, and feeling rather paranoid. There was something bad dealing with the Institute...I could feel it way down in my gut. But I ignored it...we had to find the place, no matter how uneasy it made me feel.

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**Author's note: **TA-DA! There is my second chapter! Yay! I'm trying to type these out and post them as fast as possible, but I don't know how much I have down on paper (yes, i pre-write so i can find mistakes and add as i go...so this isn't exactly what i have written down...i love to ad-lib!) I know that this chapter is shorter than the first...but im tired. and it seemed like a good place to stop! ...and remember, please review! --hugs Iggy tightly--

just think, in the time that it takes you to review, you could have saved a couple acres of the rainforest! (note: this is unproven...the author just needs to make you feel important) --lovie storms out-- _LIARS_!


	3. Things We Could Have Lived Without Doing

**Author's note: **well, here i am with chapter three! A big thanx to my reviewers, **Myrah **(uhm...so maybe it's not as slight as i thought...?)**, coolbeanie **(so glad you like it!)**, and EdwardAddict** (I love my Fang! --hugs him tightly as he groans loudly-- mmmm...i heart chocolate...) for their votes of confidence. Again, there is a vast majority of readers not reviewing...but alas, I cannot force you, for I am guilty of the same crime...so I shall not yell and rant about it (because that would be hypocritical...and i hate hypocrites.) I can't believe that 130 people have checked out my story...making it my second most looked at story!) Okay, now i know you're all itching for me to continue...so I will...after my disclaimer. Fang?

--black haired teen grumbles loudly...then says something under his breath--

**Fang: **...--mumble grumble--...

**Lovie: **...What was that, Fang dear?

**Fang: **Lovie doesn't own Maximum Ride, the characters or even the plot line. James Patterson does. ...can I go yet?

**Lovie: **--claps hands-- That's the most he's ever said! YAY! --glomps Fang-clone-- THANK YOU EDWARDADDICT!

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Random Quote #3

People ask me why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a little boy-I like to keep it in a jar on my desk.

-Stephen King (All time fav. Author! ...then J.P w/M.R series...it's so close...)

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**Chapter 3: Things We Could Have Lived Without Doing, But Did Anyways.**

Gazzy wanted to know if we had any money, and Max turned to me as if she were mentally asking _me _for permission to try the card we found-which she pulled out of her pocket-and asked me what I thought. We needed money, there was no avoiding that problem, and I told her so. I also said that we could easily be traced by it, and I knew that she wasn't sure if she wanted to take that risk...but the need to eat won out over being followed, and Max popped the thing into an ATM machine. Then another not farther down the street...and another...and another. All the passwords she tried were not the one we were looking for. Max tried again, obviously stumped and frustrated at her lack of success, when Angel suggested a thought.

"Why don't you try 'mother?'" she asked. Well, Max plugged it in, and it worked like a charm-making us two hundred dollars richer.

"How'd you know that?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"It just came to me."

"In a voice?" Max asked, and I knew what she was thinking. Her voice had somehow infiltrated Angel's mind, giving the six-year-old the password subconsciously. I know-sounds ludicrous-but stranger things have happened. But Angel shook her head no.

"It was just in my head. I don't know why."

Max and I looked at each other, both wondering what could have happened in the time before we rescued her. But there was no way of knowing, so we shrugged it off and kept walking. Several blocks later, there was the building we were in search of...but no Institute for Higher Living anywhere in sight. Max randomly asked about a basement, and the secretary got really defensive. She motioned the security guard over and everything. I was angry...we had gotten so close, but so not. This caused a Gasman explosion, which I must say is a _very _rare occurrence. It's kind of like me talking like Nudge for a day. It usually doesn't happen. Max, being the caring, oldest, rich bird girl we all know, offered to make it up to the little guy by taking him anywhere to eat. Yeah, that couldn't have gone any worse. He picked out 'The Garden Tavern,' which I knew that, as soon as I saw it, was going to be bad news. I don't really want to go into a large amount of detail into that fiasco, but I will say that I don't think that they'll be refusing any large orders here soon. It ended badly..._very _badly. Bouncers were brought in, cops were called, and we were forced to reveal our wings. But there were some good moments. Like when Max dumped the olive oil on 'Jason's' head...that was funny. People taking our pictures...wasn't so funny. The dumbfounded looks of astonishment on the humans' faces when they saw us flying around the restaurant, utterly hysterical...flying first through the skylight, not so much fun.

Max told me to head for the trees in Central Park again, so I did. Man, I will not lie to you, it felt soooo good to fly again. Walking is crappy when you have wings to carry around with you. I felt my mood rise slowly-which was surprising, considering how much we just revealed about ourselves-and decided to poke some fun at my oh-so-thoughtful leader...after we landed of course. Picking on her in the air is usually a dumb thing to do...especially when she's faster than you.

"You didn't think before you dumped the olive oil on that waiter, did you?" I asked, keeping my face straight. That is way hard, especially when she scowled at me...made me want to laugh even more. Yet my good mood plummeted the moment I realized our tree was surrounded by Erasers. ...And one just _had _to be Ari. Max and the wolf-boy fought a verbal fight-which Max won magnificently by the way-and Ari gave up some rather interesting information. When we left with Jeb, he was left behind...and the whitecoats experimented. They were probably trying to find a way to make a longer lasting creature. So they tested on a three year old boy. That's disgusting, despicable, and vile. It wasn't long before he resulted in treachery, pulling out Angel's bear from somewhere. The girl dropped down to some lower branch, and I knew what she was going to try and do.

"Stay put!" I called out, at the same time as someone else.

"Angel, no!" Max yelled out. Apparently, she knew too. But Angel ignored us both and jumped down in front of the boy who held her bear. The Erasers leaped forward, but Ari held them back with his arm. Max jumped down behind the girl, and again the Erasers jumped to again be held back. My body tensed, ready to join the girls if necessary. As soon as a single finger was lifted against my Max, I'd be down there taking heads. And I am dead serious on that front. Angel told Ari to put her bear down in a voice that i had never heard her use before. His other arm flew to his throat, and she told him again, in that same creepy voice. Ari dropped the bear and Angel, in the blink of an eye, had grabbed the bear and was back up in the tree by me. Max looked slightly startled for a moment, and the Erasers lunged at her. As I tensed to jump down, Ari said something about 'the director' wanting to see them. He threw one final insult in Max's direction, and she shot one back, then he left with the Erasers right behind him. Never again did I want to be anywhere near that many Erasers, and watch as they lunged at my Max and our Angel. Iggy was understandably upset, as were Gazzy and Nudge, but Max calmed them all down enough to get us to move to a new locale.

We left the tree and moved into the ninety story building that was still under construction. We were on the top floor, and it was all debris and sheet wall inside the outside walls. Nudge and Max went for groceries as soon as we were all somewhat settled; although I hated the fact that Max could have easily been snatched and carted off somewhere. But I let her go...my duty was to watch the flock in case something did happen to her. Yeah..._right. _More likely that we'd all fly off to rescue her and be reunited either with a successful rescue, or all be captured and be put back into cages. I would rather die than be put back in a cage, but I think that I'd prefer a cage to seeing Max get hurt. I can always escape from the cage.

Max and Nudge returned without any trouble, and we ate in silence for the most part. Not long after that, Iggy and I moved the sheet rock out of the way a little bit while Max and Gazzy cleaned up the debris. We had a pretty decent nest going on, and we all lay down to sleep; exhausted from the long day of failure and problems.

Quite surprisingly, Max was still out for the count when I woke up the next morning. Usually she's up at least ten to twenty minutes before I've even stirred. Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were all up within a couple of minutes after I was, but Max didn't even budge. Knowing she needed the sleep, I rounded us all up, and we went out to the store for breakfast items. While there, I noticed a very bad thing. There, on the front page of at least four papers, were fuzzy pictures of us. Headlines blared, and I instinctively made sure that we weren't recognized. I snagged the four papers and threw them with our stuff, knowing Max would just _love _this.(You caught the sarcasm there, right? Okay, just checking.) The clerk looked at us strangely, but didn't stop us or anything weird. So we flew back to our little safe house to await Max's awakening...and to eat of course.

Max finally stirred a couple of moments after we got back-not long after Gazzy and Iggy dove into the food. Boy was I ever right about Max _loving _us on the front page. She was way less than pleased...like saying she was mad could have been an understatement...not that she showed it. She blamed it on herself because she thought that she should have maybe tried to have discourage the Gasman a little bit more. But I guess that it's all wind under our wings now. (yes, I did mean that the way that you'll probably take it...Max is _insisting _upon these puns...) Nudge said something about disguises-which is actually very clever-but we had no way of getting anything. When nothing materialized by lunch, we went out as ourselves. Max had us stop at a deli for our meal, and was telling us that we needed to leave the city as soon as it got dark when some guy with a Mohawk pointed at us yelling "YOU!" Tell you what, that is pretty creepy when you've been chased by Erasers for the majority of your life, and your picture has just been plastered to a large number of papers in a very large city. I saw Nudge try and hide behind Max's back, who had dropped her pop, as I froze due to instincts. The only thoughts that were running through my head were _'Where are the exits? Is everyone able to get to one easily? Can I grab Max and Nudge at the same time? Will I be able to stall for time so that they can get away?'_

"You guys are _perfect!_" he said, rather enthusiastic.

"Perfect for what?" I asked calmly while my brain thought of anyway for me to stall for time while Max and the others escaped. Not that she'd willingly leave me behind...she never did, no matter how I tried to tell her to go ahead without me. Meanwhile, the guy had pointed to a sign that read '_U-do: Tomorrow's styles today!'_

"We're having a make-over fest! You guys can have total makeovers for _free_-as long as your stylist gets to do whatever he or she wants." ...this guy seemed a little _too _excited for this.

"Like what?" I heard Nudge ask. _'Oh man, she's gonna want to try this!' _I thought. I _really _didn't want to get a make-over. I liked myself just the way I was...wings and all.

"Make-up, hairstyle, everything! ...except tattoos. We'd need a note from your parents."

"That's out," I heard Max mutter. I couldn't help but look at her in disbelief. Was she actually thinking of doing this!

"I want to do it!" Nudge exclaimed, almost bouncing up and down with all the excitement and want of an eleven year old girl. "It sounds so fun! Can we do it, Max? I want a make-over!"

"Uh..." she paused, and I felt myself suck in a deep breath, hoping against hope that she'd say no. Then, "I'm up for it."

I couldn't stop my eyes from widening as Max looked at me, her brown eyes intent upon my dark ones. "We'd love to be _made-over. _Make us look completely different." she said without dropping her gaze from mine. I nodded in understanding, but growled under my breath. Hey, just because I understood the 'why' doesn't mean I wanted to go through with it. I don't know a lot of the female portion of the human race, but the girls that _I _live with jump at the opportunity to have their hair done professionally. I swore that if they cut my hair short, I'd never speak to Max again. Okay, so that's not true, but man I would give her my best glare for weeks. Show her to drag _me_ into some beauty salon...

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**Author's note:** okay, okay, I know...the chapters are gradually getting shorter...but it seemed like such a good place to stop! I think that final thought of Fang's was pretty good...but that's just me. So please review, and I'll be a very happy camper! Oh, and I'm not too sure when the next chapter will be coming out...i've used up all my pre-written stuff...unless i work on it some tomorrow. But it'll be up soon! I promise...and if not, i give you all permission to kick me until the next chapter is out! Later readers! -Lovie 


	4. Makeover results and Beach fun

**Author's Note: **Ah hah! I have made it to my fourth chapter! Yay! By far my longest story ever (especially considering the others are one-shots...) But a big thanx to my two reviewers this past chapter: firefox and EdwardAddict. (out of 200+ readers...I got 2 reviews. C'mon now ppl, are you really that short on time?) But I would like to say thank you to you two. I feel loved when I see you review! On with my chapter!

**Fang: **...must i?

**Lovie: **yes, you must.

**Fang: **--sighs very loudly-- Lovie does not own the Maximum Ride plot or characters...or the majority of the dialog. Actually, she only owns the thoughts in which she call mine...but she's wrong...they're not mine.

**Lovie: **LIAR! I found them all written in this notebook, in the bookbag in which you brought from EdwardAddicts! So there! --sticks tounge out--

**Fang: **--blushes-- ...I have no comment.

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Random Quote #4

Confuscious say man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day!

-Anonymous

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**Chapter 4: The Makeover Results and Beach fun**

I can't believe what I got dragged into. Okay, yeah, the hair thing was totally awesome. The creepy girls giving me strange looks, almost as if they were hungry-not so much. Kind of awkward. Shopping was even less than thrilling, but I survived it with my black clothing. Life is good when you wear all black. Well, onto the flock. Iggy had gotten his ear pierced, which was wicked awesome. But I wasn't jealous, no I was not. I don't want anymore holes in my head, thank-you very much.

I saw Max shake her head at something that Angel had held up...a tutu. The little girl had her hair done up in cornrows and was dressed up like one of those mannequins that we had seen in the store windows on the street. Nice looking comfy shirt with rather baggy pants and a big jacket. But it worked for her.

Max's normally long blond hair had been whacked off-shorter than usual-and was streaked with hot pink. She had make-up on and...wow. Let me tell you, she actually looked like the girls our age that we had seen walking down the street, but better. She looked...wow. There aren't any words in my vocabulary to describe how she looked. It was amazing to see how feminine she looked, even though she was still a tomboy at heart. I won't tell you what ran through my mind when I first saw Max come out of the room she had been getting 'taken care of' in. Those thoughts would probably make a tomato blush in embarrassment...and Max would kill me if she ever found out that I had thought those thoughts. I caught myself staring at her several times, astounded that Max could look that good. Part of me was thankful that her back was to me. But there was another part that wasn't so thankful that her back was to me...if you catch my drift. I can still picture it in my mind. The jeans she was wearing were-_NO! _Never mind that last sentence...that wasn't supposed to come out. Just ignore it...like it were never there. Why did I write this in pen? Max is _so _going to have my head for that when-and if-she reads this. But you see why it was _her _version that got put into the book and not mine?

Anyways, we finished up there and walked out onto the street, still slightly wary because we weren't exactly positive how successful these transformations were going to be.

"There's a little park up here," I said, knowing that Max would want to leave as quickly as possible, and a small, slightly darker park was way better than a crowded, well lit street when it comes to take-offs. Five minutes later, we were all air born. It was _so_ great to be in the air again, my huge wingspan stretched as far as it could go. Max apparently thought the same thing as she did huge arc after huge arc. I was sure that she would have dived and swooped had there not been a big city below us where there were tons of people...with cameras.

After an hour and a half of flight, we landed on a beach that looked pretty empty and underdeveloped. No parking lots, no garbage, boulders on each end to keep the people out...pretty nice for a couple day stay.

"Looks good," I said as I scoped the area out after we had landed. I didn't want to happen upon any surprises. In my history, surprises are _always_ bad news. They always end up badly...badly is bad...I don't like it when things are bad.

"Home, sweet home," I heard Max mutter dryly as she removed her book bag, passed out dinner, and sat on the sand. I noticed that night when we laid down for sleep, that Max was out for the count the moment her head hit her sweatshirt pillow. _'Man,'_ I thought, _'she definitely needs to get more rest and stop pushing herself so hard. That can only end badly. I hate when things end badly.' _

The beach is a great place for some R & R. I now know why so many people flock to the beaches for vacations and to relax. When all this is done, I want to live somewhere like this. Secluded, smelling of salt, quiet...very relaxing. Max, Iggy, and I were all up on the sand, well out of the reach of the water, munching on cookies, while Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were all exploring the water and crabs and such. Max was doing something strange with the cookies...rating them on a scale of one to ten. What she was comparing them to, I haven't the slightest idea, but hey, whatever keeps her aloft. You know, when you're a bird kid, not too much really seems 'abnormal,' except a normal life...so Max rating cookies was a .0015 on the Richter scale of weirdness.

"What do you think?" she asked me as she finished off eating her cookie, her brown eyes looking at me with curiosity and undercurrents of amusement.

"It's fine," I said, and Max rolled her eyes at me. Okay, well, not physically, but she did mentally. Her body language said it all. I didn't need the power to read minds, I could read body language!

"I give it a seven out of ten. Though warm from the oven, they lack a certain je ne sais quoi. My mission will continue," she said. Iggy laughed as he searched the bag for fruit, and I swallowed my snort of amusement with the rest of my cookie. It was then I realized that _this_ was how it was supposed to be. The family thing, I mean. All of us relaxing, not worrying bout where our next meal would come from, or whether there was an Eraser nearby. We had no cares here, only laughter, and exploring-we were acting like the family we never really experienced. All that was missing were the dorky adults that were supposed to play our parents. ...man that thought can really ruin a moment. I shook the parents bit from my head-it was a headache waiting to happen. I watched Iggy walk off with Nudge and nearly smiled at the interaction between them all.

"They're happy here," I said to Max, not taking my eyes off of the flock. Max nodded in agreement-which I only saw out of the corner of my eye.

"What's not to like? Fresh air, peace and quiet, the ocean. Too bad we can't stay here." she sounded upset at that thought. I pondered it for a moment before replying.

"What if we were safe here?" I asked. Yeah, it was highly unlikely, but a guy can hope...right? "Like, we just know no one would come hassle us. Would you want to stay?" I looked over at Max. I know that I'd stay if given the chance...but only if Max did too. I couldn't picture a life without her. She has been around me for as long as I can remember. (Partly because of the fact that she's older than me, but hey, she's still always been there for me!) Max was surprised-the astonishment was written all over her face. I returned my gaze to the flock as she replied to what I was saying.

"We have to find the Institute," she said stubbornly. I think that she was missing my point. "And if we find out anything, the others will want to track down their parents. And then, do we find Jeb and confront him? And who's the Director? Why did they do this to us? Why do they keep telling me I'm supposed to save the world?" she was all but yelling by the end, and I wanted nothing more than to hug her...but I refrained because that would totally freak her out more than she already was. I held up a hand to stop her rant so I could fit in my two cents worth.

"What if," I said slowly, half not believing what was coming out of my mouth, but wanting her to understand it none-the-less. "What if we just forgot all about that?" I saw Max's jaw drop in amazement. At either what I was proposing, or the fact that I had said it at all was up for debate. I know that she thought I was nuts right now, but I was so sick and tired of running away from the Erasers and worrying about if they'd take Max again or not. I can't tell you how many valuable hours of sleep I lost over the last one there. I was tired of running-or flying-away from everything and here...here was perfect.

"What are you-" she was cut off by the Gasman dropping a live hermit crab in her lap, and Angel requesting food. That was fine with me. She needed time to think about what I'd asked her to do...heck _I _needed time to think about it. But it didn't come up again that day...or any other day in the recent future for that matter. Morning came without incident and I, being the nice little-or big, your choice-bird boy teenager I was, went and got the _New York Post_ for Max and myself. I was feeling way better than I had in a _long _time, and I placed the paper at Max's feet with a bow, 'cause I was feeling like I needed to tease her some today. I backed away from her reach quickly so she couldn't smack me for my playfulness...but couldn't hide my quick grin. Max, however, didn't notice it. She had become engrossed in the paper, which was a relief. You'll never hear me admit this in person-especially when she's around-but Max's punches _hurt!_ She's like a freaking beast or something when it comes to getting hit by her.

"Well, good for us," she said after she read an article. "We've gone two days without causing a huge commotion in a public place and getting our pictures splashed all over the news." I snagged the paper away from her as Nudge announced that she was going swimming, followed by Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy. I read the paper thoroughly, looking for anything abnormal as I ate peanuts...which were pretty good by the way. I noticed Max seemed overly stressed, but about what I had no idea. She looked at me, and when I glanced up, she opened her mouth, then shut it again while blushing. _'What in the world...?'_ I had no idea what was going on in that head of hers, but I wasn't about to pry. I noticed her staring out at the flock and wondered what was going on with all of us. Max groaned and dropped her head into her arms, which were resting on her knees. I looked at her slightly alarmed.

"Your head hurt?" I asked quietly, not wanting the slight breeze to carry my voice to the others. No use in getting them all worked up over something we can't control. But I was worked up anyways when it came to Max being in pain. She sighed before shaking her head no and looking out at the ocean. I followed her gaze and saw Gazzy looking around the water, scared and alarmed. He looked up at Max and there was panic etched all over his eight-year-old face. Max lunged up and began running, me right beside her. Angel was underwater somewhere...and had been for a long time.

"Angel!" Max yelled as she plunged into the water and up to Gazzy. I was right behind her, scared that we had just lost our youngest again. The underwater currents were strong; I could feel them tugging at my legs, wanting me to slip so that they could pull me out to sea. "Where did she go down?" Max was asking, trying not to sound panicked. Boy, she was failing at that one. The Gasman pointed at an area nearby, and I stared into the water trying to find any part of our missing child. "This would be an excellent time for one of us to develop X-ray vision," she muttered, and I tried to ignore the fact that if Angel was lost at sea then I may lose _my _angel. Angel was Max's baby...kind of...in some weird way. Max spoiled that girl mercilessly, but I turned the other cheek when it came to noticing.

I was sweeping my arms through the water, feeling down as deep as possible, as I stared into the water for any sign of Angel. We spread out some, but there was no sign of the girl. I noticed Max glance up at the shore towards Angel's bear, but didn't take much notice of it as I continued to search the waters. The sea salt stung my eyes horribly...as did the glare. But nothing could compare to what I was feeling deep down. It was as if somebody had turned off my air supply. I couldn't breathe right, but I forced myself to continue anyways. I had to find Angel for Max. The School incident was still fresh in all of our minds.

"Do you see _anything_?" Max cried to me, and I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the water. I didn't want to look at Max right now; it would be very painful, in the emotional way. It hurt to know that Max was terrified. Yes, I was terrified too, don't you start thinking that I only care about Max. Angel could have been under the water, struggling for breath right then, and I couldn't do anything about it because I couldn't see her. I refused to allow myself to think about it though, trying to convince myself that she was okay. Our little angel was okay...I just wasn't entirely sure where she was being okay at. I noticed Max running away from where the rest of us were, and I glanced up to see her running toward something. _Angel!_ I hurried after Max, arriving shortly after they started to hug, and heard Angel say that she could breath underwater. It was all I could do to not glare at the girl. Relief was flooding my body right now, and I couldn't really spend that much energy on looks when I was concentrating on standing. That girl gave me the heart attack of the century, and she had been figuring out a new skill. Lucky girl. Lucky that I was too tired to give her a 'stern talking to'...which is what Max calls me yelling at the flock for doing something stupid that scared me. And trust me, I had been scared. Angel was so gonna pay for not popping up and saying something...she was so toast later. But for now, I let her be happy with her ability and Max.

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**Author's note:** hey there, it's done! And i am very tired. I wrote the last five paragraphs off the top of my head because I ran out of pre-written stuffs, so there it is, sorry if it's suckish. My attempt at writing without a first copy. Hope it's not too bad. _The kiss_ should be in the next chapter or two...not too long for those of you who are waiting for it! Im not exactly sure when I'll get chapter five up, I won't have much computer access tomorrow (my sister's coming home, and since i usually update late at night and she sleeps on the couch...prolly won't happen) and I work saturday night. I'll try to get it up saturday, because from sunday to friday i will be out of state with little to no internet. I'm going to visit my friend peril...and her computer is fried. I _will_ however, bring my book and notebook so that i will hopefully have something written out for you guys when I get home. So I will bid all of my readers a fond farewell, and until my next update!

-Lovie


	5. Fights and the kiss

**Lovie: **I am _soooo _sorry that I haven't updated when I said I would! --dodges rotten fruit and veggie-- I feel bad, honestly I do. I won't feed you a bunch of excuses either, I'm just gonna read the disclaimer and get on with the story. You guys have been waiting long enough.

**Disclaimer: **I, Lovie, do not own anything besides the thoughts coming from Fang's head. Everything else is Patterson's.

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_**Chapter five: Fighting and...--gulp-- the kiss**_

Max ran over to Angel's dripping form and hugged her tightly as they went onto the wet sand, where they collapsed. We (as in the flock) faced Angel and Max as Angel recanted her tale. I was confused as to what she meant when she screwed up her face and blew air out her nose.

"It comes out your nose?" I asked her, meaning the water that she 'swallowed.' Angel shook her head and said she didn't know where the water went. Max looked at me as she explained what Angel was meaning to me.

"She's extracting oxygen form the water."

"Can you show us?" I asked Angel, wanting to see this. She stood and re-entered the water until she was in waist deep. Max was right by her side, and I almost smiled at that. Always the protective 14-year-old 'mother hen.' Angel took a big mouthful of water, stood, and did her little 'swallow' thing as she blew air out her nose. We were all stunned by this, especially when Iggy couldn't feel anything abnormal on our youngest flock member's neck. Well, after we all failed miserably at trying to breath underwater, and Max snapped at her voice, we ate and crashed.

I awoke to hear a very familiar voice say something to Max. I jumped up when I saw Ari lean close to her, seemingly angry.

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," Max snapped at the Eraser-fied boy. I half cheered as Max struggled against Ari's boot, but a full grown Eraser isn't something you want to make angry and screw with. Then, the cretin did something I will _never_ forgive him for. He touched Max. He placed his ugly claw on _my_ Max's cheek. Caressed it in a sick manner. Only _I _could touch her like that. Me and me alone!

"Get off her!" I heard myself yell as I threw myself onto Ari, tackling him to the ground. Yes, Ari's bigger. Yes, he's stronger too. But I wanted to see him bleeding on the ground for what he just did, either unconscious or dead. I preferred the latter. I vaguely heard Max telling Nudge and Gazzy to get in the air, but I brushed it all off. All I knew then is that I was going to kill Ari. He was _so _burnt toast.

Ari scratched my face, which-quite frankly-pissed me off. I landed a good hit on Ari's collarbone in retaliation. I was seeing red and, at the time, wasn't feeling any pain of any kind. Air could though, which was my advantage for the time being. He yelped when I hit his collarbone, and he nailed my head. I blacked out-temporarily stunned from the blow. The next thing I know, Ari's holding my head tightly, as if he were trying to pop it like a balloon, and there was a sharp pain in the back of my head. Max was screaming something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I opened my eyes and threw sand in Ari's face-making the Eraser let me go long enough for me to stand again and get a kick in to his chest. He staggered back a little bit-and this was a blow that probably would've knocked Max on her rear end-and elbowed me in the face. I was dimly aware that Ari was threatening me before I felt my body and mind give into the darkness that was unconsciousness.

I came around slowly-I didn't really want to move because now I was feeling pain. It was then that I felt someone gently wiping my face with something soft, causing it to sting slightly. My head was slightly elevated and there were voices all around me. I felt Iggy slowly feeling my injuries-he's the only one whose touch feels like a feather.

"...check him into a hospital," Max's voice first one to make any sense-and what I heard made me think she had gone nuts. There was no way that I was hurt that badly. I mean, yeah, so there was the coppery taste of blood in my mouth and I felt like every part of my body weighed a ton, but I wasn't hurt bad enough to go to some place that smelled like the School!

"No hospi'l," I said, sounding rather rough. The cleaning of my face ceased when I spoke, and to admit, I kind of missed it.

"Fang! How bad?" Max asked...was it anxiously? She had relief pouring through her three words, and it was rather strange. I took stock of how I felt...and it wasn't too good.

"Pre'y bad," I said, still groggy. I felt something rolling around my mouth, mixed in with the coppery taste of blood. I tried to shift so that I could spit it all out, and Max freaked.

"Don't move!" she said, sounding kind of funny. I didn't try to move much more-mostly because it hurt way too bad to. I turned my head and spit the stuff out of my mouth, and caught the lose thing that had been in my mouth.

"Tooth," I said, disgusted. I mean, c'mon. I was supposed to have been the victor, but here I was, lying with my head in Max's lap, in pain, bleeding. Ari had beaten me, and I wasn't happy about it. "I feel like crap." I gingerly touched the bumps on the back of my head, suppressing winces. Max seemed to have attempted a smile, but failed rather spectacularly.

"You look like a kitty cat," she said as she made a whisker motion on her face...meaning the scrapes on my face from Ari looked funny. I gave Max a look that meant I was less than amused, but I have to tell you, Max's lap was actually pretty comfortable. "Fang," she said, her voice breaking slightly. I thought that she was going to start to cry, and I hated it when that happened. I always feel kind of useless when she cries. So here I was, lying on Max's lap, defeated, and she was going to cry over something. Some protector I am, huh? I always kind of thought of myself as some kind of hero when I went up against Ari because he was always bigger...and because we always usually won. Now I'm just a pathetic excuse for a wanna be hero-er...strong mutant.

"Just live, okay? Live and be okay." she said, and kissed me. On the lips. I'll tell you one thing-I may not have been a hero, but I still got the girl!

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**Lovie: **Yes, it's short...but I want to leave the rest of his thoughts for the next chapter. I'll try not to take so long! And until my next update, i bid ye all a fond adieu! 


	6. Fang's thougts on the kiss

**Author's Note: **Okay, okay, I know, it's taking me a _loooooooooong _time to update. I'm sorry! My mom is going to school for nursing, leaving me to clean our house...a 100+ year old house. I am forced to care for my siblings from the moment I wake up (about 8:30 am) to almost 4 pm. I am stuck with more chores than I care to list, leaving me very little time to write. I take care of a house that contains six people, five cats, and a dog! ACK! I work every weekend (which is when I used to do my writings...) and I am trying desperately to finish up this huge project for school...and I don't even have it half done. I still have like, four-six interviews, a report, and a visual to get done! So please, be patient...I don't mean to take so long with my updates. I read some, then reread it while I get a vague idea of what Fang might think there, then go back and read it again as I write some complete thoughts down. Then I reread what I've written down, try and improve it, and go back and forth between what I've written and what the book says, trying to make sure that I have what I want from one particular section. It generally takes several hours to write one of my chapters. When I type it all out, there's the reading of what I've written, (again) looking back through the chapters that I've used, then typing what I want, only partially sticking to what I've written down...so what I post is almost nothing like what I've written down in my trusty notebook. It's hard. There's also the fact that I had a hard time thinking up what I think Fang would think when it came to the kiss. You see...it's been a while since I was fourteen. I don't even remember what _I_ thought at that age, let alone what a fourteen year old boy who just got his first kiss would think. It was hard...but I think I may have gotten it. Yes, he's prolly _really_ OOC, but ya know what, I don't really care. ... ... ... Okay, so I do, but I got so frustrated, that this will have to do...so here ya go. The sixth chapter of my story.

**Disclaimer:  
****Fang:** --sighs audibly-- I can't believe she forces me into this every time...it's so...not right. I think you guys know that she doesn't own any of this. Don't sue her...she has no money.  
**Lovie: **--squeals in delight-- LOOK FANG! I FOUND A QUARTER!  
**Fang: **...okay, she has a quarter. What can you get for a quarter?

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_Random Quote:_

_I'm saying that I'd rather kiss you than die! It's a compliment!  
__-Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender  
__(now one of my new fav. Shows...it's so cute!)

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_

**Chapter Six: Fang's thoughts on...the kiss**

Holy crap. Holy freaking crap. Max kissed me. _Max _freaking kissed **_me!_** It was...wow. Short? Yes. Unexpected? Definitely! Bad for the littler members of the flock to see? Oh, most definitely...but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. But I must say that it was amazing, even though it was so short. I wasn't going to let her see that I enjoyed it though. I mean, what if it was all a giant mistake? One big accident of sorts? What if the Erasers found out the way that she might feel about me? They could use us against each other. All the little doubts began to pour into my exhausted brain, making me doubt even my intentions.

"Ow," I said, touching my cut lip in an attempt to hide my thoughts. Hiding the fact that I had thoroughly enjoyed the brief, completely random-and probably accidental-act of affection. Of course, I was also trying to both keep and rid my mind of the feeling of her lips pressed to my own. (Did that make any sense whatsoever? ...didn't think so.) I could do little more than stare at Max as she blushed, making her look...cute. Okay, I know...it sounds funny, me saying the word 'cute.' It's even weirder when used in relation to Max and how she looks. I could feel Gazzy and Nudge staring at us, but I was stumped as to what to do at that moment. The little doubts continued to plague my brain as I vainly tried to figure out what the heck I should do, and figure out what _it_ meant.

I sat up slowly. Emphasis on the word 'slowly.' Yes, it had hurt when I tried to spit my tooth out, and yes it hurt when Max kissed me. But let me tell you, those were nothing compared to what I was feeling now. My head ached horribly. I mean, I had a massive migraine coming on, and the scratches on my face from Ari's claws stung. My arms and legs felt like they had been encased in concrete, but I managed to move them. I was so stiff...and I didn't like it.

"Man," I said, trying not to sound like a human in pain...it didn't work quite as well as I had hoped it would. I coughed, and really wished I hadn't. "This feels pretty bad." I stood up, almost falling back on my rear end a couple times, and took the water Angel brought over for me. Rinsing out my mouth, I felt Max's eyes on me, calculating how injured I was, if I would be able to move a long ways for very long. She was scared, and I had caused it. Well, I had help from Ari, but it didn't lessen my anger any. And boy was I mad. Mad at the person-no, the _thing-_that caused this worry inside Max and my injuries. Ari. That demented wolf-kid was going down.

"I'm going to kill Ari." ...crap. I couldn't keep all the anger out of my voice, but that didn't seem to phase the flock all that much...they looked about as upset as I felt. He was going down. Next time, I meant it. Well, I meant it before too, but next time, I'd make sure of it. He was as good as burnt toast.

We flew back to Manhattan that night, and I was so glad that it wasn't as far away as I thought it was. I wouldn't have been able to make it without a good six hour rest otherwise.

"You macho thing, you," Max said to me after we landed in Central Park. I was tired, but I didn't want to worry her more than she already was.

"That's me," I replied, and looked at her, still trying to decipher the meaning behind..._it._ (_It_ is...the Kiss. It's so strange writing/saying/thinking 'the kiss' so I think that _it _works better. I don't feel as weird writing _it _as I do 'the kiss.' So I'm just going to refer to _it _as _it _from now on...okay? Hope so, because if you don't like it, tough.) Max blushed again, and turned away so she missed the smile that I flashed in her direction. Oh well.

"Are you really okay, Fang?" Nudge asked, and I felt a pang of guilt. Here I was, worried about how Max was coping, and the entire flock was worried about how I was holding up. Curse my one track mindedness. I was doting completely upon how Max felt about the whole Ari-kicking-my-butt scene...and I should have been thinking about what the flock felt.

"I'm cool," I said, trying to reassure everyone. "Flying really helped loosen me up some." ...yeah, I was about as loose as all the animals in Central Park Zoo.

"Look, let's find a place to hunker down, catch some Zs, and then take another shot at the Institute. We've got to figure it out-we can't stop now. Right, guys?" Max said, and I think she was trying to be optimistic. Not really a good thing for her at times like this. Usually that meant she was worrying about something else, and she was putting on a show to make us all feel better. Nudge and Gazzy went on and bought the act, saying how they wanted to find their parents. But me, I just wanted to go back to the days before the Erasers found us. To go home in Colorado and act like nothing like this had happened. Just like the years after Jeb left us. Yes, it was hard at times, but back then, the worst thing going for us was who would gain control of the remote that evening. Those were the days that I wanted back. Those were the days that I felt actually really safe. Those were the days...

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**Author's note: **Okay, really short again...but that's about all that I have written out right now. Oh well. You guys shall live until my next update...right? Please? Don't die from anticipation! That would kill me, and nobody would get to find out what he thinks next! ACK! Meh, oh well...until next time! And please, drop a line and gimmie a review! ...not to sound needie or demanding or anything...--grins and hugs quarter-- I'll give you a cookie! ...that i'll buy with my quarter! --looks at quarter skeptically, then pockets it-- ...or my mommy's quarter! 


End file.
